Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Price does not mean "niche" or "good". And Creed and Tom Ford are not "niche", they are just two examples of stupidly expensive scents comparing to quality (especially Tom Ford). Some expensive scents are good, some are superb, some other are overpriced crap. And on the other side, there is plenty of cheap niche good fragrances around. I really see no point in generalizing...

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

If I love a composition and it is within my budget I will attempt to acquire it whether it sells for $5 or $500+. While I may not have found any $5 winners yet, plenty of vintage sub $50 gems have been found with many more still waiting to be uncovered. I have found price has little correlation with how much I will enjoy a composition.

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Originally Posted by Colin Maillard

Price does not mean "niche" or "good". And Creed and Tom Ford are not "niche", they are just two examples of stupidly expensive scents comparing to quality (especially Tom Ford). Some expensive scents are good, some are superb, some other are overpriced crap. And on the other side, there is plenty of cheap niche good fragrances around. I really see no point in generalizing...

Originally Posted by DMA

Creed are niche, there sole buisness relies on fragrances... They concentrate on perfumes and there related products only and nothing else...

On the other hand Tom Ford most certainly is not niche, hell make anything for a quick buck, perfume just happens to be another one of the many things that are made under the Tom Ford name.

tom ford not niche ? ever heard of robes08 i think alot of people will disagree with both of you's .

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Niche: Type of fragrance company that produces in limited quantity and sells in few shops.

Bla bla bla. People who know perfume rarely use the terms designer and niche. The fact that is costs more doesn't mean it contains better ingredients or is in any way worth a sh-t. Good fragrances are rare, especially these days when all the ingredients are banned and every pile of crap is an instant classic.

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Exactly. If you like a fragrance you like it and if you dont you dont, anything else is ridiculous, but Tom Fords private Blends may cover all the bases of a niche brand but they are not niche, and no niche company specialising in perfume can pump out the amount of fragrances that they have in less than 10 years lol. And which global manafacturer and distributor makes there scents again?..

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

The first are the Lomani types - made cheap to be sold cheap, but I have no interest in those.

The second are the formally full priced, now heavily discounted ones - and I am always seriously interested in those.

Some six years ago, Lagerfeld Capsules were being sold for $120 a bottles at DJs, but I picked them up for $15 a bottle two years later.
Similarly when DJs sold off all their CSP stock at $20 a bottle, and L'Artisans at $60.
Other cheapies I've picked up are Egoiste, Equipage and Blenheim's Bouquet for between $30 to $35 a bottle at Perfume Connection.
And some ten bottles of Annick Goutal and various Aqua Di Parmas for $20 a bottle at the DNA closing down sale (plus a few PIvers and Etros). And a bunch of Trumpers scents for $10 a bottle at relocation sale.

It was only a few years ago that scents like Azzaro Visit, Decibel, Ed Hardy Man, Ice Men and B*men were going for full price of 90 to $100 at Myers and DJs, but since then they could have been picked up for $19 to $24 at Priceline and other places. Meanwhile, if you fly across to Europe, the ones still on the shelves still have prices that are very high.

In October last year, it was hard to walk into a European department store without a sales lady trying to flog me Guess Seductive Homme at 60 or so Euros. I came back to Australia, and here it is on sale for as low as $32.

So, are these cheapies I have mentioned, really cheapies? One would have to be seriously into an anti-designer scent attitude, to not have some interest in them.

But then again, I did buy Pirates of The Caribbean EDT for $7. I like it.
Cheers,
Renato

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Originally Posted by BeyondTheBox

It's just personal preference based on priorities. Fragrances are my littlest priority and no, I'm not missing out on anything. That's like saying not tasting $200 Japanese beef is missing something, yeah, it's missing a waste of money.

Just so I'm clear, you decided to join and participate on an internet message board devoted to your 'littlest priority'?

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Originally Posted by BeyondTheBox

It's just personal preference based on priorities. Fragrances are my littlest priority and no, I'm not missing out on anything. That's like saying not tasting $200 Japanese beef is missing something, yeah, it's missing a waste of money.

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Originally Posted by BeyondTheBox

I've never wasted a second of thought or cent on "niche", which is a laughable concept and term itself, or overpriced designer. I never support any fragrance that costs more than $50 for 2.5oz or greater.

Consider it moronic to do so...

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

That's interesting, I feel just the opposite. I never waste my money buying anything under $100.00 per bottle. It's simply impossible to use quality materials in scents under $100.00, and getting closer to $200.00 as we speak. High quality ingredients are important to me. Of course there are a few exceptions such as Yatagan and a few other super bargains. Otherwise I have no interest in cheapies except for those few exceptions - which for the most part I don't have the energy to seek them out.

It's possible to have a great composition at any price range, but a great composition with cheap ingredients still ends up smelling cheap in the end.

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Originally Posted by thebeck

That's interesting, I feel just the opposite. I never waste my money buying anything under $100.00 per bottle. It's simply impossible to use quality materials in scents under $100.00, and getting closer to $200.00 as we speak. High quality ingredients are important to me. Of course there are a few exceptions such as Yatagan and a few other super bargains. Otherwise I have no interest in cheapies except for those few exceptions - which for the most part I don't have the energy to seek them out.

The most classic scents were/are great because they used high quality ingredients that were not expensive at that time.

There are many perfumers that make impossible things possible such as making a great compostion with ingredients that are not as expensive as that of niche fragrances.
That´s why they are called master perfumers, that Roja Dove doesn´t deserve

High quality ingredients are not important to me. The composition is more important.
Whenever I test Roja Parfum, Xerjoff or whatever expensive wannabe luxury brands, I find the perfume market develops in a wrong way.

I am sure that you also mean compositions by mentioning high quality materials.

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Originally Posted by Temptation

The most classic scents were/are great because they used high quality ingredients that were not expensive at that time.

There are many perfumers that make impossible things possible such as making a great compostion with ingredients that are not as expensive as that of niche fragrances.
That´s why they are called master perfumers, that Roja Dove doesn´t deserve

High quality ingredients are not important to me. The composition is more important.
Whenever I test Roja Parfum, Xerjoff or whatever expensive wannabe luxury brands, I find the perfume market develops in a wrong way.

I am sure that you also mean compositions by mentioning high quality materials.

If so, then this thing is highly subjective.

That is so true. High quality ingredients were abundant and not expensive. Mysore Sandlewood was a common ingredient, as well as many other almost extinct ingredients that were used in what we now call "Classics" I'm spoiled, I grew up wearing the classics (High School Class of 1969) and have come to expect more form perfumes than someone younger that didn't grow up with them. I hate having to spend a premium for what I use to buy at my local drug store for a song. These are new times, and I've found to get the smell I grew up with costs money. Sad, but true.

High quality ingredients go hand in hand with a good composition - that's what makes a great perfume - the two together.

It's so true many niche perfume houses have wasted a lot of good materials on mediocre and even total shit offerings. I feel the same as you, many of the luxury brands perfume develops in the wrong way. Hell, they should be fined for wasting precious materials.

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

This thread is so serious! Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?I am drawn to scents that I like and I tend to gravitate to scents that challenge me and smell different. Honestly price does not matter all that much if I want a particular scent, and if the price is over a certain point I don't really want to cross I put that scent on my wish list and wait for a sale, a deal or a split. There are very few cheapies that tick the same boxes (longevity, creative use of unusual or challenging notes, unique smell, etc.) as say any of my favorite Amouages. There are exceptions of cheapies that I like but at the same time I have a pile of crap whose cost was minimal that I will simply never wear again.

I guess the average per ml price of what I wore on those days was about 100 bucks for 75mls, more or less. Lets round up, and say 1.5 dollars a ml. I don't wear more than a half an ml a day, at most, so lets say it costs me about a buck a day for the pleasure of enjoying inexpensive and expensive niche and designer perfumes. Of course, that presumes I don't buy that much more than I need, and that is another story .

I do find that the more I am learning about fragrances, the more I do value a certain projection, longevity and quality of scent that is harder to get in cheaper designers. That said, Rochas Man serves me just fine in all three.

Like any hobby, it is all about the joy I receive from some non-serious time away from life's higher stakes activities.

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Originally Posted by 57cc

"LOL so your saying that Nasomatto for men isnt suitable for him then , even thats worth around $180 for 30ml lmfao"

Okay, I have no idea what this actually means, but there seems to be a bit of that going round here so I'll leave it at that. It's always nice to see people so easily amused, though . . . let us in on the joke when you get off the floor

And, for the record, Tom Ford is a clothes designer with a perfume line . . . that's generally accepted as meaning the perfume falls under the terms 'designer', but whatever.

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Originally Posted by 57cc

tom ford not niche ? ever heard of robes08 i think alot of people will disagree with both of you's .

of cours robes08 has decreed it!! Lord forbid anyone have a contrary opinion. He is simply another consumer like you. Just because he has a bunch of videos on youtube doesn't make his opinion the golden standard. Tom Ford is NOT niche in the classic meaning of the term as it pertains to frags. Deadidols post explains it to a T.

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

"..........Probably the most oft-repeated misconception and misunderstanding on Basenotes and a dichotomy many just can’t seem to get away from in the obsessive compulsion to build up niche fragrances at the expense of designer fragrances. It’s as if niche fragrances can’t be left alone to fend for themselves without attacking their less prestigious brethren............"

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Take for example perfumer Maurice Roucel. He has created cheapies from Rochas and Nautica through higher end Frederic Malle. It's probably safe to say that the ingredients used were of different sources with different pricing and perhaps different quality. But I'd be willing to bet that the difference in raw material is not proportional to the difference in cost. Again, it's going to be the mark-up where the large retail pricing difference is created. And the fact that the cheaper one will sell more quantity so it can afford to have a lower markup multiplier.

Some places selling Nautica for $50-60 are making huge profits. These places have higher overhead costs more than the places that sell the same Nautica stuff for $15 bucks...yet can still profit from even the $15 price. It's interesting how this all works out

The point: buy what smells good, even if it's cheap or even if it's expensive and within your means. You won't be disappointed.

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Idk guys....I'm torn on the subject....There are a lot of cheap cars that I have bought in my life that indeed fell apart versus ones that I paid a little more for that lasted forever in terms of quality...is it safe to say that niche is better quality because you pay more? Probably not, BUT the tendency for us fragrance lovers is to believe you are truly paying for what you get....Maybe perhaps more essential oils versus synthetic fluff is the reason niche costs way more...Perhaps the ingredients are sparse and hard to find....Perhaps its a novelty or been discontinued that increases the price of niche or sometimes even designer....I can tell you from my personal experience, I have tried the cheaper fragrances like Eros and was highly disappointed and sold it quickly thereafter so the opposite is so true as well...You can buy cheapies and really be disappointed too in the scent...This has happened numerous times with me....So, I think you're better off smelling the scent without looking at price and deciding if this is something truly you want to have in your wardrobe or not...Price shouldnt be the deciding factor on buying a fragrance whether its cheap or expensive...Price would only matter if finances were somehow in play and for many, it surely is....But to say cheap smells better than expensive or expensive smells better than cheap is so subjective....Who knows....

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

Creed are niche, there sole buisness relies on fragrances... They concentrate on perfumes and there related products only and nothing else...

On the other hand Tom Ford most certainly is not niche, hell make anything for a quick buck, perfume just happens to be another one of the many things that are made under the Tom Ford name.

That part about Tom Ford couldn't be more wrong, well I'm not gonna say your opinion is wrong I just disagree. Tom Ford is the leading men's designer for formal wear, leather goods and shoes. He turned Gucci into a powerhouse and the entire brand (clothing and all) is much worse after his departure. You can say the same for YSL to a lesser extent. One of the greatest fashion designers in the past 25-30 years. You're not gonna like all his scents and I get it but don't make it seem like he's just some hack

Re: Expensive and niche but still drawn to cheapies ?

[QUOTE=Temptation;3085548]

Don´t forget that many niche fragrances are made by independent perfumers that didn´t get a job in a designer house lol..

The same perfumers working on designers do niche as well. the difference is for the most part, when working for a niche brand they can express their artistic side more. When doing a designer fragrance, more is focused on getting a hit. That's why you'll have a lot of designer fragrances that are similar, they're competing with one another for sales. Niche brands usually have their own lane